10 Upcoming Gaming Gadgets And Consoles You Should Know About

There have been a lot of hardware announcements in the last few months, and the expectation is that the new PS3 and 360 will be announced at this year’s E3. Plus, with Kickstarter, some more innovative designs are coming to the fore. We’ve put together a small round-up of all the hardware coming your way in the next year or so.

What it is: The successor to the PlayStation 3, a dedicate home gaming console.Thumbs up: Great hardware specs, which you can check out here. Not much is known about benefits but people are speculating on the possibility of some cloud gaming features, though these might not be as good in Australia. The additional hardware power would enable more units to be on screen, and better power 3D, 4KHD, and split-screen gaming.Thumbs down: Sony have patented technology that would lock a disc to your console, limiting piracy and used game purchases. It’s unclear whether they’ll actually use this technology, though.

What it is: The successor to the Xbox 360, another dedicated home gaming console.Thumbs up: Microsoft (and Sony too) has included more and more non-gaming apps into its dash, increasing its functionality, even if no one really wants to Facebook from their Xbox. It shares possible benefits of cloud gaming, and great specs.Thumbs down: There will obviously be lots of sales on launch, but there might be a bit of caution, given the long history of the Red Ring of Death problem from before.

What it is: A handheld console based on Android, consisting of a controller and an upward folding screen.Thumbs up: You’ll be able to play high end games, portably. It’s Android-based, so you won’t be playing Windows games like the two tablets below, but it’s powerful enough for serious gaming.Thumbs down: The low battery life of only 5-6 hours may severely limit how portable this thing truly is. Its 32GB of storage capacity may also turn out to be quite small when installing the latest games.

What it is: High powered Windows 8 device aiming to be a cross between a tablet and a gaming laptop.Thumbs up: Will run high-end Windows 8 games normally, or in a touch screen capacity, which hasn’t really been done before. For slower paced games, this could be quite fun.Thumbs down: $1299.99 USD, and only an hour of battery life during high-end gaming. Its side paddles also look gimmicky.

What it is: Similar to the Edge, this is a high powered PC without a mouse. A keyboard flips over to type with, and it takes USB input.Thumbs up: While the specs aren’t as good as the Edge, this will again allow you to play Windows 8 games that could normally only be played on PC, but with the option of using the touchscreen. It’s also cheaper than the Edge, and can output to larger TVs.Thumbs down: The specs aren’t as good as the Razer Edge — the core i5 is still great, but you might chug on the highest tier of games. The Windows 8 platform might also limit your gaming somewhat.

What it is: Different manufacturers will be able to come out with different “Steam Boxes”, though Valve’s own version of the Box will be on Linux.Thumbs up: Access to Steam’s massive library of games, made possible by their tweaking of Big Picture mode, even though some will obviously run better than others in a living room environment. Valve’s box is set to feature eight HDMI ports in the back, for local play on separate TVs.Thumbs down: It’s hard to think of a real downside without knowing all the specifics of the individual versions that companies will make, but given the hardware and features that are being talked about, you can expect it to not be cheap. As in, not too much less than a PC.

What it is: An Android-based console on which everything is free to try.Thumbs up: It’s $99, and open to hacking, modding, or whatever you want to use it for. Great for indies, and great for those who care less about graphics and more about gameplay.Thumbs down: An early model of its controller has been described as disappointing, and some think its open nature may offer less protection against indie copycats, malware, and account hacking.

What it is: A controller that plugs into any TV via a HDMI connector. All game and Android OS data is within the controller and connector.Thumbs up: No additional hardware is needed, and it’s completely wireless. It’s $69 currently through Kickstarter. Additional peripherals can be plugged in, and if their stretch goal is reached, they’ll include micro SD cards as well.Thumbs down: Many of the current games on the Android app store probably won’t look too great when blown up on large TVs.

Release: TBAWhat it is: Head-mounted virtual reality setup that will show you 110 degrees diagonally in 1080p, for PC and Android. Plugged in via HDMI, DVI or USB.Thumbs up: Advances are being made in terms of the latency required to make head-mounted displays work, driven by people like Gabe Newell and John Carmack. From a technical perspective, this should be very capable and beautiful with the right games.Thumbs down: Many games probably won’t be a good fit for the RIft, and it’ll take a bit of getting used to. Some might just plain not like it — it’ll be a “try before you buy” thing.

What it is: A motion control device much more accurate than Kinect, especially for the finite movements of fingers.Thumbs up: It’s incredibly accurate, and only $69.99 on their site. While not intended for gaming, it does a great job of it.Thumbs down: You might not want to hold your arms out for the lengthy amount of time necessary to play a first-person shooter. And even casual games like Fruit Ninja might get tiresome after a while.

Which are you most excited about? Did we forget anything? Let us know in the comments below!

For any head mounted display: 1080p is a good start. Now, how big is the virtual screen? What distance does it seem to be? Is there a separate screen for each eye? Do I need to wear my glasses, or can I adjust the focus to compensate?
Then there's the wearer fatigue- most people move their head in a cinema. Is there positional feedback on these?
Military systems track the eye, to determine where the user is looking. This allows them to reduce resolution in peripheral areas without being noticed (much) by the user. Combine that with positional detection for maximum effect.
Without that level of technology, any HUD (not just the Oculus) will just be a niche toy. And it doesn't even have earphones!

The "virtual screen" should cover your entire vision.
There is a separate screen for each eye.
You can wear glasses. It's a developer prototype atm, so they may have focus on the final product.
It tracks your head movements not your eyes.
I'd rather bring my own headphones that suits my needs.
I'd rather the Occulus guys concentrate on getting the picture and motion tracking right, than worry about the sound too. Plenty of other companies have done that already.

The Oculus and Leap Motion are No 1 on my list. Don't care about the price. Watching them in action at CES was amazing. Happy with my PS3, might look into the Steam box. The Oculus though is going to be big. Developers kit is out in March.

The complete lack of mention that nvidia's project shield actually streams the game from your pc therefore making the 32GB of storage mainly for use by other things, also to say that it won't be able to play high end games like the Razer edge and the microsoft surface pro is stupid as all the of the work is done by your pc. Another thing is the battery life; Nvidia staff from CES have stated that the battery will last longer when steaming from your pc rather than running an android game straight off the device as it doesn't need to do any of the work.

None of these have a date, therefore I don't need to be hyped about them. Good list of tech, but damn I'm sick of the time zone difference between journalism and reality. It seems to be about 12 months on average :/

The Windows 8 platform might also limit your gaming somewhat.
The 'Windows 8 platform' lets you play effectively ever single PC game ever made. I mean, the games aren't touch optimised, but it's far from 'limiting'.

PS4 and Xbox 720 are must buys for me. The other things on this list, not so much. I've got a decent PC and a Nexus 7, so I'm not really in the market for a psudo PC or tablet. Plus most of this stuff is untested, I'll wait and see if they catch on before I consider jumping on board.

you could totally go all Minority Report with a set up like that. If only someone would release one of those clear screens they always have in the movies. Although, I'd imagine that being able to see sht through your screen would be more of a hinderance.

Finite can mean small, hard to notice as well as limited. The kinect can't see fingers well because of how small they are(they sort of smear in the image it has to process). This is possible because the Leap is closer - you can't see it in the picture, but it would sit just in front of the monitor. It's no good at full body stuff, or anything that isn't basically sitting with it in your lap, but you could use it to emulate a touch screen monitor, I imagine.

Its side paddles also look gimmicky.
You know that they are an optional extra (a $200 extra might I add) and that you can also get a keyboard dock and TV dock which you can plug controllers into.
Then again with a traffic pulling piece like this it's not surprising.